


The Secret Hero

by allthemidnightmemories



Category: Adam-12
Genre: Gen, Post-episode s04 e24, Word Count: Under 1000 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:12:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15424740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthemidnightmemories/pseuds/allthemidnightmemories
Summary: It made no sense, how Reed had known that Porter had everything in him to be a hero, and Malloy can't let it go.





	The Secret Hero

**Author's Note:**

> A post-episode scene for "The Wednesday Warrior". I do not own Adam-12 or any of the associated characters or what not (though I really would like to).

When they were leaving the station, Malloy waited until they got to the car before asking him the question that had been bothering him all day. He would have left well enough alone, but the way Reed defended Porter all day had made no sense until right now. And even then, a piece was still missing. As he started the engine, he let it idle for a second, not moving. He looked at Reed. Reed looked back. 

“What?” Reed asked, confused. 

“Come on. You and Porter.” Malloy wasn’t letting Reed edge away from the answer this time. “You mother-hen him all day, and then he throws himself into a situation like that.”

“So?” Reed shifted in his seat, still unsure of Pete’s line of questioning. 

“Enough with the one-word answers. You knew Porter in high school. You recommended him for the position. How’d you know what kind of guy he was? Until now, I would have thought he’d paid you off or something to back him. Now I don’t even know.” Malloy’s voice was stubborn, and Reed looked like he was about to avoid the question once more, but he paused, then exhaled. 

“I knew him back in high school, you know,” Reed began. “He was a year younger than me, always one of the smaller kids, the kind of guy that gets shoved around a lot. I didn’t know him all that well at first, just that he was real smart and didn’t have a lot of friends.” His eyes fell, staring intently at the glove compartment. 

“But then?” Malloy prodded. 

Reed hesitated. “I’ve never told anyone this before – he’d asked me not to.”

They sat in silence for a moment. Malloy respected Reed enough to let him decide whether he wanted to go on or not, so he didn’t push. Finally, unprodded, Reed continued. 

“It was late one night, my junior year, after a basketball game. Porter had been moved up from the B team to fill our bench because too many guys were hurt, and we needed a full team to play. We lost pretty bad that night,” Reed said. 

“Porter stuck around on towel duty, I was asking the coach about a couple plays, and somehow we both ended up walking out in the lot at the same time. I had a car, but he lived pretty close to the school.”

“A bunch of guys from the school we’d lost to came by on bikes, looking to brag a little more about their win. I was thinking about some stupid move I’d made that I thought cost us the game, and I wasn’t paying any attention to them. It was dark, and one of them headed right for me. I don’t even think he saw me.”

Reed looked down. “Out of nowhere, Porter came running at me, shoved me out of the way. I don’t know if the bikers didn’t see or didn’t care. He got a broken arm out of the deal. I got a scraped palm and a friend.”

Malloy was puzzled. “Why on earth wouldn’t you want to say anything about this? He probably saved your hide.” 

“I tried asking him the same thing. I drove him to the hospital, tried to tell the doctors what he did, but he interrupted and said he tripped in the locker room. When the doctor left, I asked him what the deal was. You know what he said?”

Malloy shook his head. “Not a clue.”

“That he didn’t want people to think of him differently just because he did what anybody else would’ve done. He said that people would treat him differently at school for a while, thinking he was some great hero, but in the end he didn’t care about that. He just did what he had to do, and that should be the end of it.”

Reed looked up. “You know, you get to know a guy pretty well when you’re at the hospital ‘til midnight waiting for the doctor to fix you up,” he said with a small smile. 

“And after that?”

“For a while I just felt bad that he didn’t seem to have anybody - plus the fact that he got hurt for me. Then I felt bad for me, because he was a pretty great guy who I’d missed being friends with just because I was the athlete and he was the brain.” 

Reed looked away from Malloy, gazing out the window. “We kept in touch. When he asked for the recommendation, he didn’t mention a thing about that night in high school. Just wanted me to stand as a character reference. Of course I said yes.” 

The silence resumed, and Malloy finally fit in the final piece. “So you’re sure he didn’t just blackmail you into being his character witness?” he joked, trying to bring the levity back in the car.

Reed looked back at him. “He never would. I know him, Pete. He’s shy, he’s quiet, but he’ll be a good cop. Today’s just the start.” 

Malloy nodded. “If today’s any indication, he’ll be just fine.” He pulled away from the curb, and the pair resumed their patrol. “Want to clear us, partner?”

Reed nodded. “1-Adam 12, clear.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that's all she wrote for her first Adam-12 story. There's something about a 25 minute cop procedural from the 1970s that leaves it perfectly open for speculative scenes and exploration, and I can't wait to write more. Thanks for reading!


End file.
